Latest Contact Center Best Practices

Today technology is at the center of any discussion regarding competitive advantage, sustainability, and growth. As it specifically relates to the contact center space, the ability to deliver and communicate with customers using the latest channels has never been more important.And yet, despite the emphasis on offering the latest in customer communications, the vast majority of businesses are still basing their service delivery on old, inflexible, and costly premise-based solutions. Which begs the very obvious question, why?

For one, while there is no denying that smartphones and the age of social media are quickly transforming the communication landscape, the tried and tested concept of calling-in is still not dead. In fact, 73% of customers still prefer to speak to a representative, which is far greater than those choosing to use Twitter to communicate at 22% (Forrester). And this shouldn’t come as a surprise when you consider the generational breakdown of today’s customers, from Baby Boomers (79 Million), to Generation X (52 Million), to Generation Y (75 Million), to Generation Z (Still growing); with every one listing the phone as a primary means of contact except for the last. So, yes, premise-based solutions are surviving by virtue of those generations, but the trend is quickly moving towards email, social, media, and web, so keeping to the old way of things may not be the wisest of strategies. At the very least, it will not support any long-term competitive advantage your company may otherwise have.

Contact center administrators have a lot on their plates. They have to stay on top of all of their agents and make sure everything is running smoothly every single day. With 24/7 support being a must in this day and age, most contact center administrators are not always working in their office or even at the call center. In some cases, the contact center agents are not even working together in a single call center. With 3CLogic, not only can agents sign in from anywhere that they have internet, administrators can log into the contact center portal online from any web browser. This way, administrators can check reports, adjust projects, assign leads, and more; from their smart phone or tablet, with no app needed. They simply log into the portal from any web browser of their choosing: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, etc.

With the growing number of machine-to machine devices being used by people as well as an increase in the amount of information being shared through the web and cloud, some have grown concerned about the protection of this information. Everyday there are many people attempting to hack into different systems to access information, so companies need to make sure their bases are covered in order for their customers have faith in them.

The Cloud Security Alliance, also known as CSA, is a nonprofit organization that aims to promote best practices for security assurance within the cloud. They also exist to educate people on the uses of cloud computing. CSA recently announced its newest project, Software Defined Perimeter Initiative (SDP). SDP will allow for the creation of networks that are extremely resistant to attacks by using end-to-end network IP addresses. According to Saroj Kar from Cloud Times, this is necessary due to the growing number of machine-to-machine devices, which increase risk at these endpoints. Kar explains that the most important way to decrease this risk is to require people to undergo strict authentication procedures before accessing any information through these devices. SDP will ensure that both the providers and the customers are secure against attacks at any point through the system.

With the development of any new product or service, there are people who typically jump on the bandwagon right away, and there are others who are slower to adopt new innovations. Those who are quick to adopt these new technologies right away are known as innovators and early adopters. They tend to be less conservative, more risk-oriented, and opinion leaders. Then, there are those who are hesitant to adopt new products, known as the late majority or laggards. They tend to be more conservative, skeptical, and will only begin using a product if the majority is using it or if it has become mainstream. Every business or industry deals with this product adoption model to an extent, and it is becoming evident that this is the case with cloud-based technology.

Cutting costs and increasing efficiency: it’s what every business has strived to do for decades. Because of the most recent economic downturn, it has become a priority for businesses to follow this business model. Companies have been forced to close factories, initiate massive layoffs, and file for bankruptcy in order to stay afloat. Take, for instance, the airline industry. For the past few years, airlines have been struggling to make profits with such high variable costs, especially because people began traveling less. Airlines such as Southwest, one of the few profitable ones in the industry, recently redesigned the seating in their planes so that the chairs are lighter and smaller, thus allowing them to add a couple of extra rows of seats on the aircrafts. They have even started to overbook flights, banking on the fact that there may be some no-shows. While it may seem to some that this is a bad thing, it's helping them to keep their costs and prices down, and remain on top in their industry.